Originally Posted by
richarddd
Is the problem that you have to deal with Expedia rather than the airline in the case of IRROPS (e.g., flight cancelled) and Expedia has excessive hold times and generally incompetent phone agents?
I usually book hotels through travel agents that offer benefits such as free breakfasts or upgrades, but the implied discount from 1.5 cents/point may outweigh those benefits (depending on whether transferring points to airline and hotel partners would be better value).
You've pretty much nailed it with "excessive hold times and generally incompetent phone agents". I 100% agree at this point that using Chase for airlines is not the best. I used the Chase points to book this TAP Air Portugal flight because it was best itinerary from Lisbon. Not anymore. Even the Chase phone agents told me had I booked direct through TAP my cancellation/refund would have been processed instantly.
My assumption here was that Chase would be more of an advocate for me would there be a problem. Wonder if posting my complaint on Chase's twitter account would help my situation....